“At Arthur Cox, team head Deborah Spence has ‘good business acumen and an ability to relate well to clients’. The firm is representing Bank of Ireland in Commercial Court proceedings by the Environmental Protection Agency raising claims regarding landfills operated by Greenstar.”The Legal 500, 2014

Expertise

Deborah is a Partner in the Litigation Department where she heads up the Environment and Planning Group. She also co-heads the Food & Drink Group. She specialises in all aspects of waste disposal and management liability as well as corporate regulatory compliance, environmental liability for contaminated sites, M&A environmental issues and all aspects of permitting and licensing issues and environmental impact assessment.

Experience

Deborah has advised on all aspects of data centres, including early stage proposed developments at the initial opening up of the market, would-be developers seeking the necessary land use planning permission, and most recently, Facebook’s successful simultaneous bi-application before an Bord Pleanála and Meath County Council.

Notable experience:

A successful challenge to An Bord Pleanála (the national planning appeals board) decision to refuse permission to a data centre developer despite all objectors having withdrawn their objections.

Ongoing advisory work on data centres relating to the environmental emissions position of the Irish Environmental Protection Agency and data centre establishment in Ireland.

Complex applications, such as advising on the content and correct regulatory requirements of seeking two separate land use permits for a single data centre, where each application involves the same singular Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Formative-stage engagement in planning team strategy in advance of attending with the client at the formal Strategic Infrastructural Development pre-application meetings with An Bord Pleanála.

“Arthur Cox takes a client-centred approach and makes it a priority to understand our group and business. They have impressive depth of knowledge across all practice areas relevant to our business and generally have a deep enough bench for even very sizable transactions.”

IFLR 1000, 2018 edition

“The firm is very strong and reliable. They are proactive and technically excellent.”

IFLR 1000, 2018 edition

"The firm has a very practical approach to dispute resolution. They take time to understand things from a business and a legal perspective. The advice is always practical, clear and solution-focused."

Chambers Europe: Europe’s Leading Lawyers for Business, 2017

"This is an outstanding firm, which goes above and beyond for its clients."